JFK 50: Parkland, Dallas 1963 and the City of Hate

On the evening of November 21^st 2013 I stood on the rooftop of a building in the Dallas West End and watched my city prepare for an event.  I have worked many events and watched the set up especially on this cold 30 Degree night with the wind chilling while I sip on my Starbucks and puff on my Excalibur cigar.

This event is not a joyous event, if anything it is an attempt at redemption. The event in question is the 50^th anniversary of the Assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Despite the fact that I briefly resided in Austin, the truth is Dallas will always be my home. It is the city that I love. Dallas however became to be known as the City of Hate after the events in 1963, Half a century ago.

The Kennedy Assassination is a subject that has always intrigued me since I was a child and my family moved to the area with all of our visiting relatives wanting to see two places one was Southfork Ranch and the other was Dealey Plaza where “Kennedy was Shot”.

I honestly at that age didn’t know who Kennedy was; all that I knew was that he was President. Then my father showed me the Zapruder film when I was 5 years old and I guess you can say that my interest was piqued.  

I was also here when JFK was filmed in Las Colinas while  was in Middle School and I even used the Oval Office set for a video in College when I was interning for Muller Entertainment.

Not to mention when I was in High School and my Freshman History teacher spoke of the events of that fateful day from a firsthand account of his whereabouts on that day watching the president’s motorcade so that he and his fellow High School friends could skip school to “Go See Jackie”.

I also began my own unofficial JFK Assassination tour in Dallas when I had my video clients coming to Dallas from out of town or having people coming to town for conventions they began to ask me to take them to Dealey Plaza where I would take them on the tour showing them the 6^th floor Museum as well as The Grassy Knoll, The JFK Memorial and in some cases taking them to the Texas Theatre where Oswald was arrested and ending up at Campisi’s where Jack Ruby dined before killing Oswald.  

A few months ago a my friends and I were watching an episode of the Twilight Zone titled "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" and in the end of the episode many places around the world are places that the sun won’t rise and these are all places of Hate and one of the first places mentioned was "a street in Dallas, Texas" and this script was in fact Searling’s personal reaction to the Assassination of Kennedy.  

Now the truth is that the reason that Dallas was called “The City of Hate” is because of the events leading up to the assassination of the President of the United States.

Now I am not here to talk about Conspiracies and Theories about who was behind it because that is not my place. If you want to talk about that particular subject I recommend Jesse Ventura because he is by far the most entertaining.

Now many of you remember Walter Cronkite being the man that broke the news to the nation however down her in Dallas the news was broken by none other than WFAA’s Jay Watson who also interviewed witnesses including Abraham Zapruder himself while they were trying to develop the infamous 8mm film that will bear his name.  

If you want to look at the facts I have some other recommendations This past year there was a great book published in 2013 titled Dallas 1963.

Written by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis, Dallas 1963 is an interesting 50 year trip back in time to show the events leading up to the Assassination and telling the story of not just Dallas but many of it’s elected officials and city leaders and their conflicting views with the rest of the nation regarding Civil Rights and other conflicts in the country at the time.

The book also covers incidents such as Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird’s encounter with the “Mink Coat Mob” that accosted them at the Baker Hotel during a visit to Dallas as well as Adlai Stevenson being attacked by protesters while speaking at an event.

It is events like these that added to Dallas being branded “The City of Hate” which is also the title of a Documentary film released this past year by Quin Mathews also covering the events in the City of Dallas leading up to the Assassination as well as the events afterward and the toll that it gave the city.

While not being able to cover the events with as much detail as Dallas 1963 City of Hate focuses on the City’s leaders and explains the local politics at the time and how they were changed after the Assassination with the essential changing of the guard and the new direction of the city.

There were other films released during this time that I will recommend such as Capturing Oswald.

Produced by Kate Greindling, the granddaughter of Det. Jim Leavelle who was the Officer handcuffed to Oswald when he was killed tells the story of the Dallas police and the fact that they apprehended Oswald in less than an hour after the Assassination and would have had him instantly after however Oswald was cleared by the owner of the Texas School Book Depository as an employee. 

Narrated by George Clooney The PBS Documentary JFK: One PM Central Standard Time tells the story of the national broadcasting of the Assassination to the nation by Walter Cronkite and the effects of the Assassination and the media.

Now one of the bigger films to be released around this time to help mark the 50^th Anniversary is Parkland.

Produced by Tom Hanks Bill Paxton, and directed by Peter Landesman Parkland tells the story of the immediate Aftermath of the Assassination on the main players taking their place in history and time.

Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) , Secret Service Agent Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob Thorton, and Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr (James Badge Dale) are the individuals that the film primarily follows.

Beginning with the minutes before and during the assassination and the chaos that followed with the primary narrative of the film taking place in real time following the various characters from the doctors trying to save the life of the leader of the free world and the conflict with the Dallas medical examiners and the Secret Secret Service due to where the body remains for the investigation.

The film shows the assassination with the camera remaining on Zapruder’s camera and his reaction and his quick confrontation with Agent Sorrels who must see the footage and the efforts to get the film developed along with the multiple screenings of the film for both the secret service and the other authorities and the many offers that Zapruder received for the film.

Lastly the film follows Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald and the aftermath that he and his family suffered after the assassination all the way to Oswald’s funeral where his brother had to ask reporters to act as pallbearers and had to bury his brother alone.

There is a wide variety of great actors in the film in a support capacity Collin Hanks plays Dr. Malcolm O. Perry one of the Doctors at Parkland Hospital alongside Zac Efron as Dr. Charles James Carrico who has to be pulled away from Kennedy’s body so that the doctors can pronounce him dead,

 Jackie Earle Haley has the small role of Father Oscar Huber who is called in to perform the last rights on the president.

The film also features Ron Livingston in the role as James P. Hosty the FBI agent who realized after the fact that he had been investigating Oswald before the assassination and even had been threatened by him and chose not to act against him.

And finally the film features Superman himself Tom Welling as Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman who after the assassination remains with the president’s body.

This film may be as historically accurate as a film can get. I am sure that they did take a few creative liberties as many Hollywood productions do. Also I wasn’t there where all of these events happened All I know is what I read in the history books and seen on the films and this film is pretty close to the truth.

I like the fact that the film does not focus on Conspiracy theories as so many of the films do. It just shows the facts and the events.

I am now hoping that Dallas can finally move on from the events in 1963…and as I type these sentences I am sitting on that familiar street in the Plaza named after the founder of the Dallas Morning News watching people take pictures of the area and look for the X in the road that is no longer there. 

In Memory of: The Ultimate Warrior

There have been many wrestlers that have passed away over the years and there have been a few that have shocked me and there has been some that I have seen coming, and there have been some wrestlers that are still alive that I had been writing their obituary many times over. All of them have saddened me.

Yes I am a wrestling fan and I have been since I was a child and I grew up with Hulkamania and was among the many fans that were shocked in 1990 when Hulk Hogan was defeated at Wrestlemania VI in the Toronto Skydome to the Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior.

Born in 1959 as James Brian Hellwig would go on to become known as just one word Warrior, beginning his career as a bodybuilder Helwig decided to pursue the path of professional wrestling as a tag team known as the Blade Runners with his partner Steve Borden who would also don facepaint of his own becoming the Icon Sting.

I was more familiar to the Warrior under his previous name The Dingo Warrior while he was wrestling in World Class Championship Wrestling here in Dallas.

Many of us who grew up in DFW around this time will remember the Dingo Warrior from the Westway Ford Commercials where The Warrior was the sidekick of Mean Joe Greed.

Also he was one half of the tag team champions with Lance Von Erich and eventually won the World title before vacating it to go to the WWF.

Debuting as the Ultimate Warrior who dominated the competition for a year before going on to dethrone the longest running intercontinental champion The Honky Tonk Man in 22 seconds at the first ever Summerslam event and would retain the title until Wrestlemania V where he would lose the belt to Ravishing Rick Rude with the help of interference at the hands of Bobby Henan. Warrior would regain the title at the second Summerslam.

While being billed as the next Star to replace Hulk Hogan the two’s paths began to cross at the 1990 Royal Rumble where Hogan and the Warrior were briefly the last two In the ring together and began to fight teasing a match that would eventually happen at Wrestlemania VI in a match that was declared Title for Title and would become one of the greatest matches in that era of the WWF.

Warrior pinned Hogan and became the Champion and would resume his feud with Rick Rude facing him again at Summerslam and feuding with Andre the Giant eventually beginning his feud with Macho Man Randy Savage.

Savage would cause the Warrior to lose the WWF Title to Sgt Slaughter after knocking him out during the match giving Slaughter the win.

Warrior and Savage would face eachother in what was viewed as a Career ending match that also featured Sherri and Elizabeth and her reunion with Randy Savage.

The Ultimate Warrior would then begin a feud with the undefeated WWF Rookie Mark Callaway aka The Undertaker. This feud was started by one of the original violent incidents around the time where the Undertaker locked the Warrior inside an airtight coffin during an episode of the Funeral Parlor.

In order to face this far darker threat The Warrior was offered and accepted the help and guidance of Jake the Snake Roberts who had The Warrior take the trials that included being once again locked in a coffin and being buried alive and finally being bitten by a Cobra where it was revealed that Roberts and The Undertaker were working together all along.

This storyline was never concluded as The Ultimate Warrior was booked to team with Hulk Hogan to face Sgt Slaughter, General Adnan, and Colonel Mustafa in with Sid Justice as the Special Referee in  “A Match Made in Hell” at  Summerslam. Warrior and Vince McMahon found themselves in a contract dispute that led to Warrior threatening to No-Show the event and McMahon gave in to Warrior’s demands and after the match was over he was dismissed from the company.

Many fans were not aware of this and the Warrior simply disappeared after chasing Adnan and Mustafa to the back and he did not return.

Hogan went on to feud  with the Undertaker and Macho Man began to feud with Roberts leading to his reinstatement with no sign of the Warrior. Soon Savage began to feud with Ric Flair and Hogan began a feud with Sid Justice and soon announced his retirement after Wrestlemania 8 at the Pontiac Silverdome where he would face Sid Justice and At the end of the Match Sid Justice and his manager were joined by Papa Shango to beat down on Hogan while he was tied to the ropes and the announcers were talking about the end of Hulkamania and that he is all alone and no one can help him.

Those words were almost the cue as the familiar opening riffs echoed through the arena that the fans immediately recognized as they erupted into thunderous applause as The Ultimate Warrior ran to the ring to help his one-time rival to close out the show and that chapter of Hulk Hogan’s career.

Now there was much speculation and rumors about the Warrior at this time, First off Warrior’s physique had changed much at this time due to the fact that WWF due to the impending Steroid scandal began to focus less on the massive bodybuilder wrestlers and as a result longtime muscle wrestlers like Randy Savage and Warrior began to wrestle in shirts and Warrior began wearing a singlet that had muscles painted on it and also he had cut his hair to a slightly shorter length.

As a result of these changes in The Warrior many began to circulate that this was not the original Warrior and that he had died and this man was an imposter.

Warrior quickly began to feud with Shango and even had a brief storyline where Shango had cast a spell on the former champion that would cause him to vomit and at times would begin to sweat black slime while giving interviews.This storyline was concluded but not at Pay-Per-Views but at local WWF House Shows. I was infact in attendance at one of these events where The Ultimate Warrior emerged victorious.

Macho Man Randy Savage was still in the middle of his feud with Ric Flair where he took the WWF title from “The Nature Boy” at Wrestlemania however Savage was booked to defend the strap against The Warrior at Summerslam where Flair and Mr Perfect were involved in the match making both Savage and Warrior believe that Perfect was in the other’s corner when all they wanted was to weaken both of them and a few weeks later took the title from Savage with the help of Razor Ramon where the Warrior suddenly became involved in the frey.

Savage and Macho Man then formed a tag team called the Ultimate Maniacs to face Ramon and Flair at that year’s Survivor Series event.

Sadly this match never took place as Warrior left the WWF yet again as he was caught purchasing Steroids.  The Warrior was replaced by Mr Perfect Curt Henning.

The Warrior was not seen or heard from until 1995.

Months after Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Rand Savage had made the move to WCW Hulk Hogan found himself in a match against Vader and announced that he was going to be aided by an ally and after many segments where a silhouette similar to The Warrior was shown and Hogan would refer to this man as “The Ultimate Solution” many began to believe that this man was in fact The Warrior.

This proved to be false as the man turned out to be the Renegade a young wrestler with many mannerisms to Warrior but eventually Warrior began to appear at indepandant events across the country to dispel the rumors that He had become The Renegade.

Around this time Warrior University was opened where Warrior began to train wrestlers. As well as the Warrior Comic began production.

Then in 1996 in the buildup to Wrestlemania XII it was announced that Hunter Hearst Helmsley would be facing the Returning Ultimate Warrior at the supershow .

Making fun of the rumors about the Ultimate Warrior in the past Jerry Lawler began to speak about he has sources that the Warrior had shaved his head and lost 200lbs.

These rumors had proven to be false as The Real Ultimate Warrior ran to the ring and despite a quick pedigree from Triple H quickly made short work of the man that would become known as The Game.

After the return of the Ultimate Warrior he went on to have some brief feuds with Goldust and Jerry Lawler the main event of that July’s Pay-Per-View was announced as The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and Vader were announced to face the team of WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and the Ultimate Warrior.

Again sadly this match would not take place as it was announced that The Ultimate Warrior was being indefinetly suspended by WWF President Gorilla Monsoon for failure to appear where advertised. The last time Warrior was seen was as the subject to a beatdown at the hands of “Comp Cornette”.

Also in 1996 Hulk Hogan turned heel and formed the New World Order aka N.W.O and like was happening in WCW at the time he began to rekindle old rivalries.

In the fall of 1998 The Warrior appeared on WCW Monday Nitro where he confronted Hogan about their past and began to stalk Hogan in the coming weeks leading up to a match at Halloween Havoc.

The Warrior formed what he referred to as the O.W.N, One Warrior Nation, and appeared in episodes of Nitro where smoke would knock out other wrestlers but Hogan who would then face off against Warrior whp would appear with the use of a trapdoor in the middle of the ring.

There were even scenes where Hogan would believe that he was seeing Warrior in mirrors.

Warrior departed WCW soon after Halloween Havoc and retired from wrestling all together.

After a few licensing issues with McMahon and the WWE Hellwig had his name legally changed to Warrior and embarked on the next chapter in his life where he began a career as a motivational speaker and soon began he began ultimatewarrior.com which featured his Blogs on everything from the status of the wrestling industry as well as politics and the world in general.

 The site also featured much of the Warrior's own original Artwork.

Warrior even returned to the ring on occasion.  

In 2011 Warrior and Hogan resumed their feud but this time on the Internet. 

In 2013 Warrior and the WWE mended fences and he was included as a playable character in the WWE 2K14 video game and even was featured in a commercial for the video game.

Finally in 2014 Warrior took his highly deserved spot in wrestling history as he was inducted to that year’s class in the WWE Hall of Fame. As in most inductees he appeared the next night at Wrestlemania XXX in New Orleans, LA.

Warrior appeared again the next night on RAW where he walked to the ring in his suit and tie and eventually donned his familiar Warrior jacket and then he put on his mask where he could address the WWE Universe with his parting statement.

"No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of The Ultimate Warrior will run forever!"

Sadly the Warror would pass away less than a day later while walking with his Wife from a Hotel to his car.

I choose not to speculate about Warrior’s cause of death because many so called journalists like Nancy Grace chose to speculate on what happened to him much to her embarrassment.

Instead I choose to remember Warrior as the man that I watched as a child and he was still a hero to many as well as a husband and father, and his Spirit will in fact Live Forever.

RIP Warrior